It Was Dirt Not Soil: How the Farm Reminded me to Check my Conditions First

This month I've been in the beds. Hands in the ground, back low, doing the slow, unglamorous work that nobody posts about-- amending the soil before one single seed goes in. Lime. Bone meal. Leaf mulch. Compost and aged manure. Layer by layer, worked into earth that had been sitting there looking like it was ready but wasn't.

It looked like soil. It felt like soil. But it was dirt.

And nothing, not even the most resilient seed was going to thrive without intervention.

The Difference Between Dirt and Soil

Most people use the words interchangeably. I did too, before I started growing seriously. But they are not the same thing.

Soil is alive. It's a full ecosystem-- microorganisms, fungi, worms, decomposed organic matter, all working together to create an environment where growth is possible. It holds together water without drowning roots. It drains without drying out. It feeds slowly and consistently.

A soil test is always necessary and usually pretty humbling. You have the space, you're excited to grow, you collect the sample like you have some idea of what's going on and then the results come with receipts.

Ours showed pH imbalance, low calcium, minimal phosphorous, and nearly zero organic matter. Tell me how you think my harvest would look if I planted without testing??

So, before anything went in the ground, I amended.

• Lime: to correct and balance pH

• Bone meal: for phosphorous and slow-release calcium to encourage strong root development

• Leaf mulch: to build organic matter and soil structure

• Compost: for microbial life, nutrients and water retention

• Aged manure: adds nitrogen to support leaf health and overall long-term fertility

None of this is visible form the surface. Nobody driving by the farm sees the bone meal. But my plants will feel it.

The plant doesn't fail the dirt. The conditions fail the plant.

One thing a plant is going to do, is try it's best to grow.

The Part That's Really About Us

I try not to be so deep with the metaphors in these reflections. However, I am a Cancer so not only is it my nature, sometimes the lessons from the field are so direct, I can't avoid taking it there. So, let's do it.

How many times have you tried to grow something-- a business, a habit, a relationship, a new version of yourself-- in conditions that weren't ready? And then you blamed yourself when it didn't take root and grow?

I’m not asking rhetorically. I've done this. Shoot, this was MY lesson. Not only have I actively tried to force my plants to grow with more water or more sun, I have also tried the one size fit all answers to my growing pains without stopping to ask: what are my actual conditions right now?

The soil test results, and the labor to amend the beds, was the intervention that I didn't know I needed. It gave me data instead of assumptions. I found out exactly what was missing so that I could address it directly instead of just trying to grow in ground that couldn't support what I was asking of it.

Your Conditions Matter

Plants need specific conditions to thrive. The same seed can perform different based on:

• Soil composition: what it's actually made of, not just what it looks like

• Water consistency: not too much, not too little and on a rhythm the plant can depend on

• Sunlight: the right kind, in the right amount, at the right time

• Temperature: some things grow in heat; some things do better with a cold start

• What was already there: what's been depleted, what's been left behind

Now read that list again and think about your own life. Your own season.

What are you actually made of right now? What's your rhythm? Or the temperature of your environment? Are you being asked to grow in an environment that does not match what you need?

And what was really profound to me, was auditing where I had been depleted and what I've been forced to deal with or adapt to based on pre-existing conditions. Where are you carrying baggage, limiting beliefs, insecurities, defense mechanisms established by the environment around you? Where have you been depleted from people, jobs, tough situations-- that have yet to be replenished?

Alexa, play "Bag Lady" by Erykah Badu.

There's Nothing Wrong with You. It's Just Time for Some Amendments.

Here's what I KNOW from the farm: you don't abandon the bed because the soil test came back bad. You give it what's missing. You wait. And you pay attention to the plant as it grows in case there's a need for an adjustment. Sometimes you'll have a pest problem, (IKYK), or a plant that's reaching for more light because it's not getting enough. Maybe it's too much sun for the plant and it's getting burned out.

My suggestion this month is to put some energy into amending your conditions. Your rest, your "productivity," what you're feeding yourself, your support system and community, your daily rhythm.

Build your soil.

The plants will tell you when the conditions are just right. So, trust yourself, because you will know too.

I'm still amending. The beds aren't planted yet. And, that's OK because what goes in the ground next will have something real to grow into. This season I am focused less on what I am planting and more on what I am planting into. I think that shift matters.

What are you growing this season-- in the ground and in your life? Hit reply and tell me. I'm actually reading these.

Happy growing,

Samaria